Peas and Rice

This is an astoundingly cheap meal that is (semi) nutritious and will be happily eaten by (most) children.

(If you have an anti-pea child in your family, she's the exception -- although if you have only ever given the child canned peas, maybe try them on garden peas or frozen?  These are very different from the canned sort and frozen are nearly as cheap. Garden ones you grow yourself can be even cheaper.)

This is also very easy and fast to make, which is good if you work for a living as most of us do.

Ingredients:


  • One bag of frozen peas (Buy the cheapest, they're all the same.)
  • Rice (Like grits, rice is something you should keep on hand.  Buy it in bulk, the five or ten pound bags, or bigger if you have storage space.  It's much cheaper that way. Or if you have access to a natural food store, they sometimes will sell it by the pound -- that often is really cheap. I eat white these days because my kid didn't like brown when she was little, and because brown rice takes so much longer to cook; but if you like brown rice, go with it.)


Cook the rice in your favorite way -- I put two and a half cups of water for every cup of rice into a big pot, add some salt, get it boiling, and then stir good and slap a lid on it.  Cook for 20-22 minutes.  That's how we do it in N'awlins.

But anyway you cook your rice is fine.

Cook the peas in the microwave or on the stove -- again, your preference.

If you're using garden peas, shell, rinse, and then simmer lightly in hot salted water for about five minutes. This is the best way, BTW, if you have access to peas from a farmer's market or your own garden. But frozen peas are nearly as good.

Don't use canned peas unless you want to make your child hate peas for life.  That's my advice.

Serve either separately (if your kids like it that way) or mixed up (that's how we eat it).

Salt, pepper, butter as the individual diner prefers.




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